Raquel Welch on Moral Values

This surprising article at CNN has former sex symbol Raquel Welch expounding on sexual morality. She criticizes the contraceptive mentality, teen promiscuity, comes down firmly for keeping a baby in a crisis pregnancy and sticks up for marriage (even though she's been married four times). We need more frank and courageous words like this from mainstream people who don't necessarily speak from a strongly religious point of view.

Who Art in Heaven

I remember a little gospel song I learned as a child, "This world is not my home, I'm just a'passin' through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

Well I don't mind those simple gospel songs and I'm glad I learned that one at an Evangelical camp called Ha-Lu-Wa-Sa which was started by a stalwart old fellow called Uncle Charlie who bought 300 acres of blueberry bog in New Jersey got a second hand bulldozer and turned it into a Christian camp.

The fact that our Father is in heaven is an immediate reminder that our faith is not of this world. It has to do with the intersection of this world and the next world. I'm born here, but I'm born for there. The fact that I pray to my Father in heaven reminds me that I'm a prodigal away from home and that I should not only be headed there, but putting all my efforts into making sure I make the long journey home.

Furthermore, the fact that my Father (and therefore my home) is in heaven, reminds me that the faith I follow is supernatural. It's not just a religion of good works and nice liturgy and being kind to one another and 'gathering together the people of God.' Every act of worship, every word of prayer, every action, every thing I do is done in the light of my baptism. Every word I say, every decision I make is done in the direction of heaven and with a heavenly dimension.

This means, while I am still here below, I am also graced with life and light from above. If my father is in heaven and that is my destiny, then some of that heaven  is here below in me and through me and if in me and through me, then in and through all I meet, and my recognizing heaven above is just another way to pray that I might see heaven below and learn to live in the heaven of this present moment until the day when I live in the eternal moment of heaven...where there is no weeping or crying and where there is no need for the sun or the moon because the Lamb himself is the Light of that city.

Nice Vid

h/t American Papist

God is No Delusion

There have been various books published to counter Richard Dawkins' juvenile book The God Delusion. I can't admit to having read the others, but this one is an absolute must-read. Fr  Thomas Crean O.P. is an English Dominican based in Cambridge, and he responds to Dawkins with a wonderful mixture of erudition, sharp argument, subtle wit and patient charity. All this is combined with the best sort of wry, English understatement and bemused condescension. Having lived in the damp land for twenty five years and got to know this wonderful race, I could just hear the intellectual repartee and see the amusement and concern sparkling across Fr. Crean's face.

Behind the actual debate is the long rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford Universities. Here is a theological and philosophical version of the famous University boat race--with Fr Crean the physically fit and effortless rower while poor old Dawkins is seen to be huffing and puffing to pull the oars to keep up. Eventually Dawkins' boat sinks and the bedraggled don surfaces and stomps from the river to console himself in the boathouse with his drunken friend Hitchens.

My imagination is running away...Fr Crean begins rowing by outlining Prof. Dawkins' essential argument, and what a weak argument it is. Dawkins says that God would have to be terribly complex to have invented the world and therefore he would have to be so very complex not only to have invented the world, but to keep it going and answer all those prayers and so forth, and who could invented him then? An even more complex being and so on and so forth. Fr. Crean dismantles it immediately by showing us how God is not complex but simple. He explains the simplicity of God easily and clearly enough, and it is a concept that anyone even a little bit familiar with the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas would have not only learned, but understood.  I don't have time to explain it all here, but clearly the summa was not part of Prof. Dawkins' homework in preparation for writing.

In the second chapter Fr Crean takes us through Thomas Aquinas' famous proofs for God's existence, Dawkins' objections and the counter arguments. This is good solid stuff, but the real fun begins with the next chapter about Dawkins and miracles. He is relentless in his pursuit of Dawkins' shallow arguments, false assumptions and logical fallacies, and as he goes Fr Crean continues to get into his stride. The chapter on Dawkins and the gospels is one of the best. Here Dawkins show his amazing ignorance. He tells us that the gospels are a collection of tales written long after the events and are no more historical than the stories of King Arthur. Fr Crean pulls out fact after fact after fact: the gospels are closer in time to any other ancient historical figure. Their language and knowledge of the ancient world are spot on. There are thousands more manuscripts and more textual evidence than for any other historical figure of the ancient world. One of the best moments is when he says one of the most ancient manuscripts of the gospel of John is not held in a monastic library in Egypt or Turkey, but just down the road from Prof Dawkins' house in the Magdalene College Library in Oxford. Wasn't Prof Dawkins aware of the existence of this priceless artifact in his own town? Clearly not.

The rout goes on through Dawkins' sophomoric views on the origins of morality and the origins of religion. The chapter on Dawkins and the Catholic Church is my second favorite. Once again Dawkins astounding ignorance about the Catholic Church is displayed by Fr Crean. The poor Cambridge don is amazed and bewildered by Dawkins utter ignorance not only of the fine points of Catholic belief and behavior, but of the big picture as well. He simply doesn't get it. To quote Terry Eagleton's famous quip, "Reading Dawkins on theology is like reading a book on biology written by someone who has only ever read the Big British Book of Birds.

Of course I am biased. I'm on Fr Crean's side from the beginning. But you don't need to be to appreciate his learning, his sharp writing style and his clear and ironic intelligence.

It's a shame that this book will not be as popular as Dawkins. I have a skeptical relative. I'm going to buy both books and ask him to read them. Then I hope we'll get together and have a good old chin wag.

I suggest you do the same.

You can read Carl Olson's interview with Fr Crean and order the book here.

The Vicar on the British Election

Guest blogger, The Rev'd Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda's, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and is an avid member of the Great Snoring Morris Dancers.


Thank you very much indeed Nigel. No, not a whiskey this evening if you please. Just the half of lager shandy. Very kind. Very kind. A packet of salt and vinegar crisps? I don't mind if I do. Thank you very much indeed. That's right Trevor, a half pint of lager shandy is my usual, and I was only partaking of what old Canon Farnsworth used to call 'the Scottish nectar' a few months ago in order to stave off a rather nasty head cold. Thank you for asking.

Now what do I think of the election campaign? I must say it's all rather exciting isn't it? Of course Mrs Vicar will be voting Tory as she alway does. She's got a nephew who was up at Oxford with this Cameron chap and she thinks he'll bring some common sense into running the country. Daphne's a bit of a card you know, and has always enjoyed referring to Mr Brown as 'wee Gordon'. Mrs Doyle is a bit more crude and calls him 'Haggis Face'. Rather juvenile I think don't you?

I think it's about time for a change don't you? Labour have done their best, but I must say I don't think we're much better off for it. What's that Smithy? Not only not better off but bankrupt? I suppose you have got a point there you know. As far as I can tell they promised to make the poor richer and the rich poorer, but they seem to have done just the opposite. Pity. But it really does seem we have far more poor people in Britain than we've ever had, but we also have awfully rich folks who seem to have nothing better to spend their money on than diamond encrusted mobile phones and so forth.

What do I think of the Lib Dems? Daphne calls them the Smiling Stalins. Says she wouldn't trust any chap called 'Clegg'. What sort of name is that? Not one to mince words our Daphne! I'm not really sure myself. He seems a nice enough sort of chappie, but I'm not sure he's that sure of himself. Seems a bit over confident? Rather like a puppy. Very eager to please, but likely as not to turn around and make a mess on the floor when you're not looking.
Do you know Lavinia and Georgie were out on the village green earlier this week trying to get us all to vote for the Green Party. Extraordinary! They were both dressed in floral dresses with circlets of May flowers in their hair. The Morris Dancers were out in force and together they made quite a sight. I'm afraid I couldn't do my stint with the Morris Dancers this time. Mrs. Vicar was worried that, as it was such a warm May evening they might do their Ancient Order of Adamites thingamajig and start dancing around in the altogether. We listened to a few of the speeches then went off home for a mug of cocoa and a digestive biscuit before it all got too rambunctious.

Who am I voting for? Now that would be telling wouldn't it? I'm not really prepared to say, but I will let it slip that I usually vote along the same lines as Daphne. Keeps the peace if you know what I mean. I can't say any of the parties strike me as particularly Christian. Have we seen any of the party leaders with the Archbishop of Canterbury on their platform? Sadly no. Neither have they addressed the really important religious issues of the day like the decline of the Mother's Union, the Methodist-Anglican Fresh Initiatives and the number of bat colonies that infest our historic church towers.

Funnily enough, they've got a new priest down at St Patrick's and Daphne had him round for dinner the other evening. Nice enough chap. Turns out to be English--not Irish--which raised the old eyebrows I must admit. Seems a clever chap too. Up at Cambridge after Whittington School. Used to be CofE, but then poped during his time in theological college. Never could imagine why a fellow would do such a thing--so disloyal to Queen and country don't you know? Seems to have taken on board the whole kaboodle--worship of Mary, celibacy...I expect he'll even sell you the odd indulgence if you need one...anyway, Fr. Hawkins as he's known, thought that the whole country needed a spiritual renewal before anything positive politically might happen. Rather a rum thing that! It's more the sort of thing one might expect from Pastor Paisley down at the Primitive Baptist Church.

I suppose we'll sail through this election and it will soon be business as usual. Reminds me of the church that was having a parish mission. Everyone was quite enthusiastic about it all, and the old churchwarden took the vicar on one side and said, "You know Vicar, I've seen these parish missions in my time. During the mission it's all 'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.' and after the mission it's 'As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be."

Righty ho! Well, I've got to be off home. Daphne's got a scrumptious pot roast cooking, and then Mrs Murphy and her husband Liam are coming across to watch the election results. I expect Mr.Snow will be out with his swingometer as usual. All great fun! Cheerio!

Our Father...

Here begins a series of meditations on the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase:

Patriarchy is not popular. Our society--like one herd of prodigal lemmings is running from the Father as fast as they can. It's understandable. Bad fathers leave deep wounds. Absent fathers leave empty spaces in human hearts. Violent fathers hurt souls and minds as well as bodies. Abusive fathers should wear millstones and go swimming. To top it all, the Catholic Church who calls their priests 'Father' too often bears the shame of men who are bad and abusive spiritual fathers.

But there is another side to this coin. The human heart is, because of our fallen condition, in a default setting of rebellion against the Father. It is part of healthy human development to break away from the parents and establish emotional and spiritual independence, but this natural stage of development too often turns into an ugly rebellion against the Father. It must be said that this rebellion is often exacerbated by sinful choices. To put it bluntly, much of the rage against the Father is not the Father's fault. It is the fault of the prodigal son and the prodigal daughter who choose to run away and therefore have only themselves to blame when they end up in the slime and filth chomping on pig swill.

As a result, what a beautiful and simple phrase with which to start the prayer of prayers! "Our Father" we humbly say; and in that phrase is captured the entire heart wrenching story of the prodigal son. In that phrase we have "come to ourself" and turned our hearts to the Father, and this is the core experience of the Christian faith: to say "I will arise and go to my Father." As we do, the rebellious streak within us withers and dies. We cannot turn to the Father and be rebellious against him at the same time.

So what happens when we turn to the Father? Spiritually we have oriented ourselves 'ad Deum'. We have turned to God. We have repented. We have opened our hearts to all that is infinite, that is simple, that is beautiful, that is 'yes'. Emotionally we have turned away from the ragin emotions of lust and rage and hate and selfish desire. We have turned away from the fickle and confusing maelstrom of emotions and have turned to the objective One--the Presence--the Rock. In turning to the Father we build our house upon the Rock and not the shifting sands of our own emotions and perspectives.

Psychologically, in turning to the Father we have turned our minds to the Ground of our Being. We have oriented ourselves to both the Alpha and the Omega--our origin and our destiny. In doing this we connect with the Big Old Holy One. In turning to the Father we put down deep roots and we put up high branches. In turning to the Father our mind and our world and our perceptions expand.

For in Him we live and move and have our Being, so as we say "Our Father" we send our roots rain.

Out of Touch

Geesh!! what a techno nightmare. The router went down over the weekend so teenaged boy went and bought a new one from Best Buy. Then the printer went down. What no printer for homework etc. etc.!!?? So Daddy goes and buys a new HP 8500 Wireless Printer.

Will the printer configure with the router? No way. We wade through loads of strange and wonderful codes and numbers and gateways and IP addresses and try to manually configure. Never do this. It takes hours and hours on Monday night. Then the sweet girl on the HP helpline says it is the router's problem.

So we swap the new router for a different one. Tuesday night same problem. Hours trying to make it play. Hours with nice person on HP helpline who has been well trained to deflect customer anger with calm words. He finally admits it may be the printer's problem. So we troop back to swap for a new printer.

Now the Canon MX870 Wireless is hooked up and talking very sweetly.

All this meant--dear voracious blog readers that your blogger has been hit by techno problems and has not been able to dispense his usual wit and wisdom.

Thanks for your patience. I hope to have something to say about the UK's general election tomorrow.

Christian Street Preacher Thrown in Jail

This article reports the case of the British Evangelical who has been thrown in jail for saying that homosexuality is a sin. He was arrested by a homosexual 'Police Community Support Officer', and get this: he wasn't even preaching against homosexuality, but he commented privately to someone who asked that he did consider homosexuality to be a sin.

What is most troubling about the anti-Christian developments in Britain is just how fast and thick they are coming. A nurse who is fired for refusing to remove the cross she wears around her neck, rabid atheists threatening to arrest the pope, a Christian therapist fired and denied in appeal for discrimination, leading newspaper columnists writing about how 'over rated' religious freedom is...

What is really dumb about all this is that people don't seem to understand that a little dose of persecution is exactly what makes the church strong and pure. In some ways the best thing that could happen to the Catholic Church is for Pope Benedict to be led off to prison as soon as he lands in England. Likewise with the other forms of persecution.

What is most chilling about the present atheistic anti Christian campaign is the creepy names they will give their Gestapo. "Police Community Support Officer??!!" It is right out of some dystopian novel. Mark Shea comments on the English news here.

Discovering Mary

If you are a convert to Catholicism and your Protestant friends and family are worried that you now 'worship Mary'...join the club. I remember bumping into an old Evangelical tutor of mine in England. He was very much the hearty, Evangelical Anglican sort--all rugby, cold showers and winning souls to Jesus sort of chap. When he learned that I had become a Catholic his face fell and he said, "But the Roman Catholics still have such a problem with Mariolatry." And this from an Oxford tutor! I said, "Colin, you have made a mistake in terminology. You meant to say 'Mariology' not 'Mariolatry'. The first is the devotion to the Mother of God. The second is a form of idolatry. Surely you were not implying that Catholics worship Mary? I mean, you are a theology tutor at Oxford. You know better than that don't you?"

He changed the subject, and he's now a bishop. Ah well...

If you have ever longed for a book that explains the whole 'Mary thing' to your Evangelical friends and family, than this is the book. David Mills, who is himself a convert to Catholicism has put together a little book that explains it all. He does so in a very winning and personal style, not only explaining the Marian dogmas and devotions, but also helping Evangelicals to understand how the proper devotion to the Mother of God complements and  magnifies the proper relationship to Christ. He also does so with a fair sprinkling of his own experience and witness.

The personal witness was, for me, was the most attractive part of the book. This is because the Marian dogmas and devotions are part of the Catholic faith that really has to be experienced to be understood. One can argue about the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin or the truth of the Immaculate Conception until you are blue in the face, but it is when one begins to pray the Rosary that it all begins to come together. It is this personal experience of Mary's love, power and assistance that is the clincher, and David Mills is wise to interweave his own experiences in such an eloquent and pithy manner.

After his introduction explaining how he came to love Mary, David goes on to expound the life of Mary, Mary in the Scriptures, Mary in Catholic Doctrine, The feasts of Mary, her titles and then a chapter on Apparitions, Devotions and Prayers. Packed at the back is a terrific appendix with lots of further reading, full notes and help for inquirers.

This book is really a must read for all Protestants on the Path to Rome, and even for those who feel that a bridge across the Tiber is a bridge too far, Discovering Mary will help to inform them about this rich and beautiful part of the Catholic faith.